Vitamin D Helps Reduce Asthmatic Symptoms, New Study Reveals
Aside from reducing your risk of skin cancer, getting the right dose of the sunshine vitamin can help improve the symptoms of asthma, new research found.
Researchers at King’s College London have discovered that taking vitamin D may significantly improve the condition of people suffering from asthma. The vitamin does it by lowering the levels of a natural chemical in the body that aggravates symptoms. The study suggests that the supplementation may be, in the future, prescribed to sufferers alongside conventional steroids.
The researchers were referring to IL -17A – a natural substance that helps defend the body from infection, but in turn exacerbates asthma symptoms and make the body more resistant to steroids.
Asthma affects more than five million people, of which 1.4 million are children. And each year, 1,400 die from this debilitating disease, the researchers note. Asthma is an inflammatory disease that affects the airways, making breathing difficult and resulting to undesirable symptoms, such as intense coughing and wheezing. Currently, patients with severe form of asthma are treated with steroids. But some are resistant to these medications, a fact that make their condition worse and badly in need of hospitalisation and intensive care.
For the study, the researchers examined the production of IL -17A and its levels in 18 asthma patients who are resistant to steroids and another 10 patients who respond well to medications. This group was then compared to healthy controls. They found that patients who have asthma have higher levels of IL -17A than the healthy individuals. Furthermore, asthma patients who are steroid-resistant have the highest levels of the chemical.
Their findings also show that vitamin D significantly lowered IL -17A in asthma sufferers, an important process that steroid supplementation could not do. Because of this, the researchers suggest that vitamin D may be a great add-on treatment and could basically reduce the need for medications, therefore reducing potential side effects. “The results are so positive that we are testing this in a clinical trial in steroid resistant asthma patients to further research the possibilities of vitamin D as a potential treatment.” said Professor Catherine Hawrylowicz from the Medical Research Council & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma at King’s.
The benefits of vitamin D extend way beyond reducing symptoms of asthma. Previous research has shown that people who lack vitamin D are more susceptible to serious health problems, including cancer. The best source of this vitamin is sunlight but it can also be obtained from dietary sources, including food supplements.
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